Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish will keep to his pre-planned schedule of assessing the Reds' season once the Barclays Premier League is over despite Saturday's 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea.

With the Merseyside outfit anchored in mid-table, their final two matches - against Chelsea at Anfield and away to Swansea - will have nothing at stake but pride. However, there will be no summit meeting with owner John Henry to discuss a season which has brought some silverware in the Carling Cup, but got them no nearer breaking back into the Premier League's elite.

"The owners will do the same as us," said Dalglish. "They will sit and analyse the season when it is finished. That is what we said before a ball was kicked and there is no reason to change that."

The major positive for Liverpool on Saturday was the performance of substitute Andy Carroll, who almost managed to turn the game on its head.

Carroll scored one excellent goal, when he turned John Terry inside out before rifling past Petr Cech, came agonisingly close to grabbing an equaliser and then had a shot turned away by Branislav Ivanovic that would have brought the Merseysiders level.

It was a performance that is sure to have been filtered back to new England boss Roy Hodgson. And allowed Dalglish to underline exactly how much faith he has in the much-maligned forward.

"We have been happy with what big Andy has done since he came to Liverpool," said the Scot. "If the ones who were critical of him are going to be fair and honest, they might have to re-write their pieces.

"If they don't want to do that, fine. It's not my problem.

"It doesn't change our opinion. He came on and lifted the team. He got the goal and was unlucky not to get another one."